A/N: So, I wasn't sure how to make this. I'm horrible at writing third-person point of view. But I wanted it to be as close to Shannon's style as possible, so I gave it a try. Also, I might change the rating. I'm kind of leaning towards T to be safe but I think K+ might be okay. Idk, and ppl probably don't pay any attention towards the rating anyways, so I might as well just put this up as K+.
1.
"Dex, leave some for me!" Sophie shouted, running over to the table where Edaline placed a large plate of mallowmelt in the center.
Dex scowled, sagging in his chair. "I thought you said you were gonna study," he complained.
"Not when there's mallowmelt to be eaten, Dex," Sophie scolded. "Don't you know me better than that?"
"She has a point there," Sophie's adoptive mother agreed, slicing the mallowmelt into multiple pieces. "You should know better than to presume Sophie would turn down free mallowmelt."
Sophie nodded and picked up a slice, scrutinizing it before shoving it down her throat.
Dex grumbled something about always having to share as he took some mallowmelt and bit into it, the gooey dessert trickling down his lips.
The two began to clean the plate ravenously eating as if they hadn't had any food in months. Just as Sophie reached for the last slice, a strident roar was heard from the pasture. Everyone shot up to their feet and Edaline sighed and rushed out the door, leaving Dex and Sophie confused.
"Um, what was that?" Dex asked nervously.
"Probably the gorgodon again," sighed Sophie. "It's been giving Grady and Edaline a tough time lately, especially with Wynn and Luna's constant teasing." She pushed the chair back into the table and ran outside, her blonde ponytail hitting her back as she moved.
"Goodnight, Sophie," Edaline flicked the lights off and smiled at her adoptive daughter. "Thanks for the help with the gorgodon today." She sighed.
"No problem." Sophie smiled at Edaline, who gently closed the door.
Sophie lay down silently in her bed, threading her fingers in her tangled blonde hair that swam in nested waves around her head spread out on the satiny pillow. She began to relax her nerves when a loud shatter came from the window. Sophie's body thrashed through air as she struggled to sit up. "What?!" she gasped. Was it the Neverseen? Did they break in? Were they about to kidnap her again?
"Miss Foster, calm down. It's me." The figure stepped over the broken shards.
"Why the grand entrance?" Sophie huffed, pressing a hand to her chest. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"
Mr. Forkle rolled his eyes and joined Sophie by her bed. "And I apologize for that," he said, "but we require your help."
Sophie blinked. "Right now?"
"Yes, right now." He pulled a trinket out of his pockets, a grim expression on his wrinkled cheeks.
"What... is that?" Sophie frowned at the weird device.
Mr. Forkle took a deep breath. "I need you to trust me, Miss Foster."
"What? N-no," Sophie stuttered. "I don't know what that thing does!"
Mr. Forkle clapped a hand on the bed frame. "It has the capability of undoing all the harm the Neverseen has done to the world, but also change everything permanently. Which is why I need to warn you. One, you can't tell anyone you're from the future."
"Future? What the heck?" Stunned, Sophie kicked the sheets off her and dangled her legs off the edge of her bed, staring at Mr. Forkle with great confusion.
"Yes, Sophie. You will be traveling to the past. Now, we need to be clear on a few other things-"
"Wait, how'd you develop it? And why are you telling me this now?"
Mr. Forkle gritted his teeth. "The truth is, Sophie, we can't keep going like this. Unfortunately things cannot turn out for the better anymore. Which is why we need to turn time, sending you to the past to change everything. With luck, this won't have even happened."
Sophie's forehead creased as a look of puzzlement took over her face. "Wait, so you're saying, it's up to me to-"
"Yes," Mr. Forkle cut in. "And we don't have much time. The Neverseen are making their next move."
"How do you know that?" Sophie whispered.
"Because one of us... is now part of the Neverseen," he murmured softly.
"What?!" gasped Sophie.
"Sophie, we don't have much time," Mr. Forkle warned, unlatching a tiny flap on the machine. "I need you to remember not to reveal to anyone your true nature."
"Not even past you?"
Mr. Forkle paused in hesitation before nodding. "Not even past me," he confirmed sadly.
Sophie tensed her shoulders. "Alright. I'm ready. Do what you must."
Mr. Forkle nodded grimly and attached the device to Sophie's forehead. It was a tiny white circle with a square orange jewel in the middle that looked uncannily like a topaz. "Now step off the bed," he told Sophie.
"What?" she asked.
"I'm going to need you to jump out the window."
"What?" Sophie yelped.
"Sophie, you need to harness your teleportation skills. The void is where time and place is most neutral. This device, which Tinker and an associate created-"
"Associate, meaning Dex?"
Mr. Forkle shook his head, not answering. "I'm going to need you to try to take it off once you reach the void."
"What?" again Sophie repeated.
"You'll figure it out," Mr. Forkle promised. "Now go!" Sophie remained rooted to the spot, frozen in fear. "Sophie! This is very important. The entire world's lives hangs in the balance."
"How great, again?" Sophie mumbled. "Why? What happened? Why is this an emergency?" she cried. "Will I be able to return to the present?"
"Something extremely terrible has happened, but if I tell you, it could destroy everything you'll be working for in the past."
Wow, that was confusing.
"I need you to trust me, Sophie. Do. You. Trust. Me?"
Sophie hesitated. Then she moved one foot. And the next. "Yeah," she softly muttered, approaching the window. "Even though it might get me killed."
"Miss Foster!" a familiar nasal voice yelled.
Sophie blinked and suddenly, she was standing smack-dab in the middle of a dinosaur museum. She felt a little seasick in her gut.
She tugged out her earbuds, the cords knotting as she hastily stuffed them into her pockets. It worked, she thought, putting a hand to her stomach. But gosh it wasn't pleasant at all.
Vaguely she heard the teacher— Mr. Sweeney— ask her a question.
"Why don't you answer the question, nerd?" jeered a boy, a harsh slap back to reality from Sophie's flashing thoughts.
Sophie's brain triggered with nostalgia as she recognized the boy. Garwin Chang. "Maybe I just don't want to," she replied nonchalantly.
Garwin tilted his head in surprise.
"Oh, too smart for the class are you now?" Mr. Sweeney scowled, his voice dripping with venom. Ugh, not this good-for-nothing snot again, Sophie thought.
Sophie tried to calm down as Mr. Sweeney led the way to another exhibit. Her classmates towed after him. But she didn't follow.
She stayed behind, and Garwin Chang shoved past her. "Think you're free to do whatever you want to do, superfreak? Just cause you're a freak doesn't make you all-powerful you know." He sneered for added effect and pushed past her to get to the others.
Sophie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, leaning against the railing. A small smirk tugged at the corners of her mouth. This time around, she was ready. She was a missionary from the future.
Glancing about the museum, Sophie tried to remember what events had occurred then- or, now, she mused. "Fitz," Sophie hissed to herself in realization, her eyes scanning the room until they honed in on a certain teal-eyed dark-haired boy with a newspaper in his hands. A small smile pulled up on Sophie's face as the nostalgia hit her. "Back in the good old days, when we didn't have to worry about the Neverseen, or much really," Sophie quietly mumbled.
Aware of what was next, Sophie watched as Fitz raised his head from the page he was reading and pushed himself off the display he'd been leaning on and walked over to Sophie.
He held up the page curiously and pointed to the picture. "Is this you?" he asked. Gosh, Sophie missed his cute accent. Which was surprisingly different back now then— wow the whole time thing was kind of confusing. Sophie stared at Fitz, momentarily tongue-tied.
"Yeah," she breathed out, paired with a short nod.
"I didn't realize your eyes were brown," Fitz commented as he glanced at Sophie, the picture, then Sophie again.
Sophie stayed silent, unsure of how to react.
Fitz studied Sophie for a moment longer before he pointed at the Albertosaurus skeleton behind them. "Tell me something. Do you really think that's what they looked like? It's a little absurd, isn't it?"
Sophie glanced over to where Fitz was pointing. "I mean… fluffy dinosaurs are weird, too." She mentally slapped herself. No, no, no. Now Fitz was gonna think she was psycho!
Sophie slowly turned her gaze to Fitz, who craned his neck a little as he looked at her. "What do you mean?" he asked, a hint of shock laced in his tone.
Just as she was about to come up with some probably rational explanation, two groups of kindergartener kids swarmed into the fossil exhibit. Their stinging, needlelike thoughts stabbed into Sophie's mind.
She took a step back and pressed a hand to her temples as she corralled her thoughts, shielding the kids' spikes from crashing into her mind. She was prepared this time around. She let out a sigh of relief and peeled her hands off her forehead.
"Did you just… hear that?" Fitz asked, a pained expression his face as he cupped his temples.
Sophie sighed. "Yup," she admitted.
Fitz's wide eyes looked her up and down. "So you are her!" he exclaimed.
A/N: This was crappy. So bad so bad. I'm cringing. I never wrote a traveling back in time fanfic or story really, so please have mercy on me (i'M a pUpPeT oN yOuR sTrInGs) Lol sorry. Anyways, I tried! Things might seem less horrible-y in a couple of chapters I guess. We'll see. Please review!